The Italian about the joys of fatherhood, an excursion into GT racing and his DTM title chances.

About three weeks ago you became a father for the first time. How has the birth of your daughter Sofia changed your life?

It’s really great to be a father. I have more responsibility now, but everyday life has clearly changed more for my wife than for me. Due to regular breastfeeding, for example, she hardly gets any sleep. But I support her in everything else as much as I can.

You used the short DTM summer break last weekend for a run in the 24-hour race at Spa. How was it?

I always tremendously enjoy competing in a 24-hour race – be it at Spa or at the Nürburgring. This year I contested both races for the first time. That was really a great experience. Both races differ at lot from each other in terms of their characteristics. At the Nürburgring, there are various classes whereas GT3 cars exclusively race at Spa. At Spa, we were even running in position five some of the time but, unfortunately, an accident at night caused us to lose some ground and we ultimately took ninth place overall. I’m very thankful to Audi Sport and I.S.R. Racing for the opportunity to race at Spa. It’s always fun to drive the Audi R8 LMS.

Speaking about the DTM, you’re currently in third place of the standings, but the only driver to have won more than one race, have mounted the podium four times – another unrivaled achievement – and have the largest number of leading laps. What else is possible?

Unfortunately, the unnecessary drive-through penalty in Saturday’s race at Zandvoort cost valuable points. Otherwise I’d be trailing the leader of the standings, Marco Wittmann, by just a few points. But I’m pretty happy with the way the season has gone so far. Nothing’s been decided yet. I’m going to give my all in the remaining eight races and then we’ll see how I’ve fared in the end.

The specified fuel consumption and emission data have been determined according to the measurement procedures prescribed by law. Since 1st September 2017, certain new vehicles are already being type-approved according to the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP), a more realistic test procedure for measuring fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Starting on September 1st 2018, the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) will be replaced by the WLTP in stages. Owing to the more realistic test conditions, the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions measured according to the WLTP will, in many cases, be higher than those measured according to the NEDC. For further information on the differences between the WLTP and NEDC, please visit
www.audi.de/wltp.

We are currently still required by law to state the NEDC figures. In the case of new vehicles which have been type-approved according to the WLTP, the NEDC figures are derived from the WLTP data. It is possible to specify the WLTP figures voluntarily in addition until such time as this is required by law. In cases where the NEDC figures are specified as value ranges, these do not refer to a particular individual vehicle and do not constitute part of the sales offering. They are intended exclusively as a means of comparison between different vehicle types. Additional equipment and accessories (e.g. add-on parts, different tyre formats, etc.) may change the relevant vehicle parameters, such as weight, rolling resistance and aerodynamics, and, in conjunction with weather and traffic conditions and individual driving style, may affect fuel consumption, electrical power consumption, CO2 emissions and the performance figures for the vehicle.

Further information on official fuel consumption figures and the official specific CO2 emissions of new passenger cars can be found in the “Guide on the fuel economy, CO2 emissions and power consumption of new passenger car models”, which is available free of charge at all sales dealerships and from DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH, Hellmuth-Hirth-Str. 1, D-73760 Ostfildern, Germany and at
www.dat.de.